Last night, I watched Terence Fisher's Dracula - I have a shameful passion for Hammer House of Horror flicks - I can remember watching The Devil Rides Out when I was a teenager, sneaking into The Ritz Cinema with a packet of Players Number 6 in my pocket -
I had a ziggurat of Dennis Wheatley Arrow paperbacks beside my narrow bed - I'd imagine beautiful vampire women sashaying down Bramber Road - I'd stare into the darkness, racked by delicious terrors -
All this came back to me, as I watched Peter Cushing play van Helsing, staking a writhing temptress, grappling with the Count in a gothic chamber -
I took no notice of the preposterous castle, the absurd dialogue, Michael Gough's weirdness -
I was, once again, that wide eyed boy, devouring the occult adventures of the Duke de Richleau, haunted by the beauty of Lucy Westenra, listening for footsteps on the stairs -
22.30
October 20 2014
The Old School House
East Stoke
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